UNC Notes: Lobato and Davis cling onto hopes of making NFL roster

JIM RYDBOM/jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
University of Northern Colorado junior quarterback Seth Lobato throws a pass during practice earlier this month. Lobato is expected to remain as starter this season for the Bears.

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Seth Lobato and Jace Davis will learn their fates in the National Football League soon enough.

By Saturday at the latest, the pair of former University of Northern Colorado football players will know whether they’re on an active roster, the practice roster or a non-roster player.

At press time Tuesday, the pair were still on the rosters of the Miami Dolphins (Lobato) and the Baltimore Ravens (Davis) after both teams met the required 75-man roster limit.

Now, you can play the political game, the numbers game or the flat-out talent game in determining whether or not Lobato or Davis will have their Sunday afternoons booked this fall.

Realize, I’m not a football coach, not exactly sure what NFL coaches look for in a player and didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

However, let’s analyze each player’s chances of making it in the NFL.

Lobato was a standout at UNC with impressive numbers and a pro-typical body to play quarterback in the NFL.

His exposure was limited because of the losing UNC teams he played on.

His 6-foot-6, 235-pound frame was hard to miss. So was his arm strength.

NFL scouts frequented UNC practices last season and obviously observed Lobato’s upside but also took note of his inability to lead the Bears to victories and a lack of grinding it out in the red zone.

To the average fan, Lobato was unable to find the end zone often enough to make a difference.

His handful of pick-6 passes last season didn’t help his cause — especially in a loss to NCAA Division II Colorado State University-Pueblo in the second game of the season, which seemed to set the stage for the rest of the season.

He did suffer an injured shoulder against the University of Wyoming when there were a handful of scouts in the stands to have a sneak peek.

Through all of this, Lobato, a former standout at Eaton High School, had enough to show to receive a pre-camp tryout with the Indianapolis Colts.

That led to being released before actual training camp started, and Lobato was idle for nearly a month.

His agent stayed busy and found a taker in the Miami Dolphins.

In a sense, Lobato was receiving a second chance, and early on he appeared to be taking full advantage of it.

However, the Dolphins had five quarterbacks on their camp roster and Lobato fell in line at No. 4 or No. 5, whichever depth chart you looked at.

He received ample playing time in the second week of the preseason, dinking and dunking enough short passes to move the Dolphins down the field on a drive that had all the makings of finishing with a touchdown, including six completions by Lobato.

Then on first-and-goal inside the 10, he fumbled the snap and the Dolphins turned the ball over.

UNC fans became all too familiar with the empty promises of long drives much like the one two weeks ago.

Lobato didn’t play in last week’s third preseason game but can expect to see time in Thursday night’s preseason finale, even though his fate will likely have already been decided.

Either way, he’ll need a superb performance to land at least a chance on the 10-man practice squad as reports out of Davie, Fla., have indicated that Dolphins personnel are ecstatic about starter Ryan Tannehill and backup Matt Moore.

Quarterbacks do go down pretty frequently during the season, so no matter where Lobato spends this Sunday, his chances of receiving another look could take place.

If I had to guess, I’d say his chances of finding himself on the Dolphins practice squad are less than 50 percent.

Now, a look at Davis.

By my own admission, I was a bit surprised when Davis was signed as a free agent by the Ravens after UNC’s 1-11 season.

Upon further review, Lobato must have had somebody good enough to haul in some of his passes, and Davis was the best in a crew of better-than-average pass-catchers on the Bears’ roster.

Now, with nary a word out of Baltimore, it’s hard to tell how Davis is doing in camp.

In fact, according to the statistics, he hasn’t caught a pass in preseason games.

On Tuesday, his name still appeared on the Ravens’ preseason roster, but so did a horde of other Baltimore receivers and the stories in the Baltimore papers yesterday raved about the receiving depth the Ravens exhibit.

Davis’ name was never mentioned.

Best-case scenario is that Davis plays in the team’s final preseason game, has a good performance to give him a chance to land on the practice squad.

Worst-case scenario, he packs his bags and heads home, hoping the phone rings.

It’s a tough week for both former Bears but one they only dreamed about the past two years.

Chances like this don’t come along very often for players at the NCAA Division I FCS level.

Success stories are even less likely.

Samuel G. Mustari covers sports for the Tribune. Reach him at (970) 392-4437 or by email at smustari@greeleytribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @samuelmustari.